Many electronic devices (instruments) are equipped with interfaces adapted for coupling to sensors and peripheral devices. Sensors and peripheral devices are made by different manufacturers, are designed based on different specifications, and/or have different functional requirements. Consequently, the host electronic devices often must be equipped with custom hardware front-end circuits in order to interface to specific sensors and peripherals.
The use of dedicated, custom front-end hardware limits flexibility and increases cost, complexity, power consumption, size and makes the device single-functioned. This requires users to purchase multiple dedicated devices for multiple applications. A single device or platform which can dynamically reconfigures itself to synthesize front-ends to interface to multiple sensors and peripherals is currently not available.